Iranian peoples

Iranian people are those who speak an Iranian language. There are an estimated 150 million native speakers of Iranian languages.

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Iranian people in history included:

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• Persians
• Medes
• Parthians
• Parni
• Cimmerians (ethnicity doubtful)
• Sigynnae (known only by obscure reports)
• Scythians
• Sarmatians (including Rhoxolani, Iazyges, Siraces, and some regard the Alans as a subset of the Sarmatians as well)
• Bactrians
• Khwarezmians
• Alans
• Saka
• Sogdians
• Massagetae
• Kambojas

Iranian peoples in modern times include:

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• Persians
• Pashtuns (Afghans)
• Kurds
• Baluchis
• Gilanis
• Mazandaranis
• Bakhtiaris
• Lur
• Tati
• Talyshi
• Zaza
• Ossetes

The Iranian peoples are the ethno-linguistic descendants of one of three branches of the ancient Indo-Iranians (Aryans). The name Iran ? in full Iran Shahr ? itself means territory of the Aryans. Besides Iranian the Aryan or Indo-Iranian group includes Indo-Aryan and Dardic sub-groups. The Indo-Iranian group is itself a sub-branch of the Indo-European family, which was formerly, although inaccurately, also referred to as Aryan ? a usage nowadays best avoided.

Related Topics:
Indo-Iranians - Aryan - Indo-Aryan - Dardic - Indo-European

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Most of the Iranian peoples live today in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, western and northern Pakistan, the northern Caucasus, western China and Kurdish areas in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria.

Related Topics:
Iran - Afghanistan - Tajikistan - Uzbekistan - Pakistan - Caucasus - China - Kurdish - Turkey - Iraq - Syria

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Iranian peoples: See also ►